Heretofore, and particularly with older people including senior citizens, difficulty has been experienced in retaining and anchoring a dental or orthopedic prosthesis upon the jaws, including the mandible or lower jaw and the maxilla or upper jaw due to wasting away of gum tissue. Various efforts have heretofore been made for providing some form of mechanical anchoring device which extends through or into the corresponding jawbone and includes projections adapted to interlockingly position within corresponding apertures within the dental or orthopedic prosthesis for anchoring same against movements with respect to the jawbone and particularly transverse movements.
Recognition of and a means for solving the problem are disclosed in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,975 of Dec. 10, 1968 to and U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,022 dated May 23, 1972 both directed to a Drill Guide for Mandibular Staples and Staple Construction. One of the difficulties with the use of a Mandibular Staple was the necessity for surgically exposing the jaw bone outside the chin and carefully and accurately drilling apertures through the mandible, and thereafter projecting the U-shaped staple therethrough and securing the staple in place.
The Staple disclosed in said patents was not normally used for or particularly adaptable to the upper jaw or maxilla.
Heretofore in the prior art, various efforts have been made for the anchoring of devices into the upper or lower jawbone including projections away from the jawbone adapted for interlock with corresponding apertures within a dental or orthopedic prosthesis.